Mr Wills
by raven-flighton
Summary: The New Directions have a new director and a mysterious new freshman in their ranks. Planned Cartwills in later chapters.


**A/N**

**Just some quick context notes. On the glee side of things, this is very AU, I'm thinking the glee club from season 3 but Sue is Headteacher and Will has left for some reason. (In my head it's for April's show, which has actually been semi-successful enough for him to stay in New York City but really that's not relevant) In terms of Smash I'm sticking quite close to the canon, we're around sixteen years after the series finale. Hopefully everything else will become clear within the story.**

"And why, exactly, should I hire you, Mr Wills?" the tall blonde woman eyed him sceptically, lounging behind her desk "You clearly have no place teaching high school students, apart from the sexual assault charges laid against you and your world renown for being a truly repugnant human being, I am suspicious of anyone whose hair is that colour, I mean is it black? Is it brown? Who knows?"

Derek matched her icy stare "Ms Sylvester, you and I both know that there is no-one more qualified to take this position."

"There may even be a little bit of grey in there," she squinted at his hair a moment and then stood "You, if anything are over-qualified, English, I mean you're equipped with Tony Award, Drama Desk Awards, Olivier Awards, your trophy cabinet is probably nearly as well-endowed as mine however real-life experiences do not make a teacher. Those who can't do, teach, and you most clearly can do, therefore you cannot teach."

Nodding slowly, the director smiled "I presume you are the exception, on that score."

"Ah, you're catching on," she smirked "So why do you want to teach English and Drama in a second-rate high-school with a glee club that deserves to rot in a sound-proofed hole."

With a sigh, Derek stood so that he was almost eye-level with her "My daughter starts here in September, I will not have her attending a school with no theatre or arts opportunities."

"So send her to Carmel High!" Sue's pitch heightened with an outraged tone of surprise.

Derek wasn't having any of it, he'd spent his life dealing with people much scarier than Sue Sylvester and he hadn't flinched yet "She's not on Broadway yet, I want her to go to a normal school but that doesn't mean I want her to be a philistine, the arts are an essential part of the education system and I will teach them all for free alongside the English, you pay me for. It's a golden offer, Sue, don't deny it."

"We're not on first name terms, yet, Mr Wills," she said sharply and then gradually lowered herself back into her seat "But I think I will enjoy having you as a sparring partner." Offering her hand, she smiled "Welcome to the team, _Derek_."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Rachel Berry was outraged. Well, she usually was, about something. Today, however, she was particularly outraged. She was being made to re-audition for glee club. This was her senior year, she had been co-captain for two years, asking her to re-audition was downright insulting. She was bristling with fury. In fact, at the moment in question, she was expressing said-fury to the rest of the glee club who, with the help of Finn, she had gathered in the choir room for an emergency meeting.

Sighing, Kurt stopped her "Rachel, it's honestly not that big a deal."

"Yeah, I might be a little offended if Mr Schu had made us re-audition but Mr Schuster's gone," Mercedes added "This is a new director, he doesn't know us, he wants to see what we can do."

Haughtily, Rachel folded her arms "He should trust Mr Schu's artistic integrity."

"I agree with Rachel," Finn said quickly. The rest of the club shared looks of mixed irritation and fondness. All the same, he launched himself to his feet to stand by Rachel. With his usual dazed expression, he continued "Who made this guy our new coach anyway? Shouldn't we have had a vote or something?"

Artie narrowed his eyes, glancing at the others "Last time I checked, the American school system isn't a democracy."

"If it was, you and Lumps here would never be elected," Santana pointed out.

With a sigh, Kurt stood "Look, Rachel, just look at it as another opportunity to perform. Or another glee club assignment, if you're so against auditioning. It's a good one, a song that represents you."

Rachel couldn't help but agree, it would have made a good assignment. So, despite still being annoyed, she let it go and threw herself into preparation for the auditions. There was a certain thrill about auditioning for something. Picking the song, deciding the outfit, the anticipation that filled her every waking moment. When the day came, she was buzzing, practically bouncing beside Finn in the hall all morning. Then, in the afternoon, she was concerned with careful preparations so, by four, she was totally ready to audition again.

The auditorium doors were locked.

The auditorium doors were never locked but, on audition day, they were locked. The whole glee club was crowded outside. Blaine was there too, having transferred at the beginning of the year and there was also a blonde freshman that Rachel didn't recognize. At present, however, all Rachel was really concerned with, was why the doors were closed. She was just about to go and fetch the janitor to open it when a man swung it open from the inside.

He was wearing a black shirt and equally black jeans. His eye was critical, his hair a practised sort of unkempt. The man was intimidating to say the least. As soon as he set eyes on them, they all fell silent. First impressions would suggest that he was the exact opposite of Mr Schuster and yet, this was the man who had taken his place.

"Are you my auditionees?" the man asked even though, Rachel was sure, he knew the answer. His accent was British. What could bring a Brit to Ohio?

Stepping forward, Finn answered "Yeah, I'm-"

"No introductions from you, I'm sure I'll get to know you as we go on. I'm Mr Wills, your new choir director. I want you all to take a seat in the auditorium, I'll call you up one at a time, to introduce yourselves and sing." Then, he moved aside and held the door for them. Heads down, they filed passed and did as instructed. Rachel didn't like him much but at least he seemed like he'd get things done.

It was alphabetical, meaning Artie was up first, performing his signature: _Dancing With Myself_. Then Blaine performed _Cough Syrup_, which Rachel thought was a little grim as an audition song but it was, nevertheless, well executed.

Once he'd finished, Mr Wills leant forward into his microphone – he was sat at the director's table – and said "Very nice, Blaine, next up is Miss Rachel Berry."

She stood, smiling at Blaine as he took his seat beside Kurt. After much deliberation, Rachel had decided to stick with the song she performed best, the one that had won them sectionals, the song that would be her audition for NYADA. Taking the stage, she said "I'm Rachel and I think the song that represents me is Don't Rain on My Parade, from Funny Girl."

"Interesting, why?" Mr Wills asked. He hadn't asked anyone else anything like that.

A little shaken, she replied "Because it's _my _song."

"Really, I was given the impression it belonged to Jule Styne or perhaps Barbra Streisand," he quipped.

Rachel felt the heat of irritation and embarrassment rise within her. Why was he picking on her? There was a low sound of chuckling from the direction of her peers. They loved this. It wasn't fair. Curtly, she said "May I sing now?"

With a sigh, Mr Wills replied "Go ahead Rachel."

Of course, Rachel nailed it, she always did. This time, though, she was possessed with the fierceness of adversity. She wanted to prove him wrong, this was _her_ song, it didn't matter what he said. When she hit that final note, she felt a rush of pride and achievement was over her. Snapping her gaze to her new teacher, she said "Thank you, for your time."

"No, thank you, Miss Berry," Mr Wills replied, a hint of humour tainting what might have been a compliment. The rest of the auditions went smoothly up until the director called "Miss Olivia Lynn."

The blonde freshman stood and hurried down to the stage. She was small, about Rachel's size but with soft blonde hair resting on her shoulders. Truth be told, though, she was stunning, even at fifteen. Most freshman were spotty and shy but this girl walked with a quiet confidence.

"Hi, I'm Jess and I'll be singing Astonishing from the musical adaptation of Little Women. It's the second half of the song that applies to me, the first part is more to do with plot and-"

Mr Wills held up a hand to stop her "I understand, Miss Lynn, just sing the song."

And boy did she sing it. Every note was hit with passion and precision, every emotion expressed. It was textbook and beautiful to watch her. The auditorium, near-empty as it was, was captivated by her. When she hit the final note, all was still.

"Thank you, Olivia," Mr Wills said, breaking the silence. With a short nod, she hurried back to her seat, all of the glee club watching her, stunned. Rachel could feel a familiar prickle of jealousy crawling up her spine.

At the end of the auditions, Mr Wills took to the stage "Good news, you're all in. Now look, I realise you were very fond of your old choir director. Principle Sylvester filled me in on that score. I don't know how he ran things but I can assure you that I am not him. I will run things my way and I will get you to nationals. From what I've seen, you're all very talented, much more than the average show choir, I can tell you that. There is no reason you shouldn't win nationals this year, in fact, why you haven't already won is beyond me. So, we start full rehearsals on Monday. Dismissed." With that, he was gone, disappearing off into the wings to who knows where.

The New Directions sat in shock for a few moments. Then Mercedes said "Well, he's different."

"You might call it that," Kurt added.

Santana stood and faced the lot of them "Well I think he'll be good for us, he seems to know what he wants and winning nationals doesn't seem like that bad an idea."

"Well he seemed a little conservative to me," Finn commented, squeezing Rachel's hand gently. He was trying to tell her that he supported her irritation at the way Mr Wills had questioned her song choice.

Fondly, Rachel corrected "Conceited Finn, and I agree."

"You're only saying that because he didn't fall at your feet when you started to sing," Kurt pointed out, glancing sideways at Mercedes.

Puck, who had somehow ended up sat next to the blonde freshman, turned to the girl "What do you think about it blondie?" Rachel bristled a little, what did it matter what the new girl thought?

Looking appropriately surprised, Olivia stood "I er, I think we should give him a chance."

"What did you say your name was?" asked Blaine, leaning forward a little. It was quite possible he was just trying to be nice but the result was something akin to fear crossing the girl's face. So, Rachel concluded, it was only in performing she was secure. Seeing he'd scared her, Blaine added "It's all right, I'm Blaine, I'm new too."

With a nervous smile, she replied "Olivia, Olivia Lynn. I've got to go meet my dad." Olivia hurried off, head down.

Once Olivia was out of earshot, Mercedes commented "She seems sweet."

"Yeah, and she can sing like hell," Artie said.

Subduing her anger and jealousy, Rachel stood "We should go, I don't want my dads to worry, come on Finn." They all agreed and, with mumbled goodbyes, left the auditorium.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The air felt cooling to Olivia's lungs as she wandered out of the school gates. She'd got through it, the first audition, dealt with the questions of her fellow glee clubbers, she might be able to make this work. As planned, she found her dad's car waiting around the corner, far enough away that no-one would see her climb in. Nervously, she still glanced round before getting in.

"So, what's the verdict?" Derek smirked at her, from the driver's seat "I know they'll have been talking about me after I left."

Throwing her bag in the back seat, Olivia replied "They've decided to give you a chance, that's all that matters." She wasn't entirely sure that was true but it didn't really matter anyway.

"Well, that's something," Derek laughed as he pulled out into the street "You know, I'm still not sure you need to lie about me being your father."

With a shrug, she pointed out "I'm going to be doing it my whole life, I may as well start now."

Exasperated, Derek began "Livvie..."

"Dad, I want a career on Broadway but I don't want to spend that career being known as Derek Wills's daughter," Olivia had lost count of the amount of times she'd had this conversation.

Gripping the wheel a little tighter, he said "No, you'll use your mother's name and be known as Ivy Lynn's daughter. I've been out of the game for a long time, no-one will make the connection between you and I, your mother is still working."

"But Wills is a show-business family name. Charles Wills, Derek Wills, I don't want to compete with that. At least Lynn is only connected to Mom," Olivia leant back in the seat, folding her arms stubbornly. She would never understand why he was so sensitive about this, what she chose to call herself was her business. As the silence settled between them, she caught her reflection in the side mirror and sighed "Besides, anyone could see I'm Ivy Lynn's daughter." It was true, Olivia was the spitting image of Ivy, though Derek liked to say that, when she scowled, she looked exactly like him.

It was odd, because Olivia had never felt like Ivy's daughter. Derek was the one who'd raised her, the one who brushed her hair and walked her to school. When their relationship broke down, Ivy had wanted to carry on with her career and Derek had wanted to be a father. Maybe it was that, after Bombshell and Hitlist, he'd wanted to make a fresh start and Olivia was the best way to start again. Plus, he was financially able then, not to work for a bit, apart from writing a regular theatre column in the Times. Not that Ivy wasn't in her life, because she was, whenever she could and she never missed a birthday, always came down for Christmas. It was just that Derek was there for the day to day, while Ivy was only there when she needed to be. Living in different states didn't help.

Olivia had a computer, she knew about Derek's past and his reputation, no matter how often he told her not to google him. They didn't have a lot of secrets, exactly, but she was aware that he didn't want her to now about the man he was before. He wasn't that man anymore.

"So, what's the plan on Monday?" Olivia asked, bringing herself out of her thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, Derek replied "Well we need to breach the small matter of the school musical, for a start. The last choir director was looking into the rights for West Side Story but I don't feel like directing something that hasn't been fresh for fifty years. It's a good show but it's vastly overdone, it does nothing for me."

"What so you want to do something new?" Olivia pouted thoughtfully.

With a nod, Derek eyed his daughter, cautiously "I was actually thinking about getting the kids to choose. You know, they pitch an idea and then we have a vote."

"Really, _you _are doing this democratically?" she giggled. Derek had been running junior drama groups and amateur theatre all Olivia's life and he was in no way a utilitarian.

Good-naturedly, he laughed "In all honestly, I'm out of ideas and I want to see what they come up with."

"Well I know what show I'm going to pitch," she smiled.

Smirking once more, he raised an eyebrow "Oh yeah, and what would that be?"

"That would be telling."

**A/N**

**So, what do you think? I'm thinking of slipping in a love interest soon so comment and say what boy you might like to see Olivia with. Current contenders in my head: Puck (he's always liked blondes) Jesse St James (I may have to play around with the canon here because he's a bit old for her) Jimmy and Karen's, yet to be introduced, son (but since I may also have Cartwills this may be a little bit weird). I am open to other suggestions so thrill me, maybe even no love interest, though protective Derek may be too tempting for me not to include.**

**Also, I feel like up until now I haven't been very Rachel-friendly so far but I am hoping to rectify that in later chapters.**

**Sorry, talking too much, hope you enjoyed it!**


End file.
